Lucian Hargrave in the Picayune Item

Victoria Hargrave and her husky Luckan are about halfway through chemotherapy that will hopefully rid Lucian of lymphoma.

Love for Lucian:

Poplarville woman raising funds for beloved dog’s cancer treatment

By Julia Arenstam
Published 7:am Saturday, May 13, 2017
See article online: http://m.picayuneitem.com/2017/05/love-for-lucian-poplarville-woman-raising-funds-for-beloved-dogs-cancer-treatment/

“She picked me; I’m her person;’ Victoria Hargrave, the owner of a 7-year-old Husky with crystal blue eyes, said.
In February, Lucian was diagnosed with lymphoma and is currently undergoing chemotherapy at Hillside Veterinary Clinic in Covington, La.
In addition to the $5,000 expense for the treatments, Hargrave said the cost of traveling an hour to the clinic from her home in Poplarville once a week, plus Lucien’s three hospitalizations, have seriously strained her finances.
After selling off items and furniture she no longer needed to raise most of the funds, Hargrave is now receiving assistance from the Magic Bullet Fund, an organization that helps raise money for dogs with cancer.
The organization is helping Hargrave raise money for Lucian to continue her treatment so she can live a long and happy life.

“She picked me; I’m her person;’ Victoria Hargrave, the owner of a 7-year-old Husky with crystal blue eyes, said.
In February, Lucian was diagnosed with lymphoma and is currently undergoing chemotherapy at Hillside Veterinary Clinic in Covington, La.
In addition to the $5,000 expense for the treatments, Hargrave said the cost of traveling an hour to the clinic from her home in Poplarville once a week, plus Lucien’s three hospitalizations, have seriously strained her finances.
After selling off items and furniture she no longer needed to raise most of the funds, Hargrave is now receiving assistance from the Magic Bullet Fund, an organization that helps raise money for dogs with cancer.
The organization is helping Hargrave raise money for Lucian to continue her treatment so she can live a long and happy life.

Lucian came to Hargrave when she was just seven weeks old, already given the name of the famous Underworld character before her mother ever laid eyes on her.

Over the years, they’ve formed a close bond through the birth of Hargrave’s daughter and a divorce, she said. “There’s no way I could lose her,” Hargrave said.

So when Lucien appeared lethargic and unwell one day, Hargrave said she felt some swollen lumps on her neck and immediately took her to her local veterinarian. When the veterinarian told Hargrave the diagnosis, it came as a huge shock. “I almost fell backward into the wall…it hit me like a sledgehammer,” she said.

Fortunately, the disease didn’t seem to be too far along, but finding an affordable way to treat her took Hargrave and Lucien all over south Mississippi and Louisiana, even considering some holistic remedies. She finally found Hillside and now Lucian is about halfway through her treatment, Hargrave said.

For the first half of the treatment, the side effects were pretty rough, Hargrave said.

Lucian didn’t want to eat or drink and grew increasingly dehydrated, losing 10 percent of her body weight along with some of the fur around her head, resulting in the need for IV fluids and antibiotics, she said.

“I’ve done everything I can, now I’m stuck,” Hargrave said. That’s when she found the Magic Bullet Fund and decided to apply. When they picked her, Hargrave said she was blown away.

Now, she has until May 30th to continue the fundraising campaign to offset the cost of the treatments and travel.

According to the organization, there are about 65 million pet dogs in the U.S., and half of them are expected to have cancer at some point in their lifetime.

Since 2014, the organization has helped 575 families raise money for their dog’s treatment, a release from the organization states.

Donations can be made by mail to Magic Bullet Fund, PO Box 2574, Briarcliff NY 10510 or by visiting www.themagicbulletfund.org.